The ‘marriage bureau’ has been set up in al-Bab, a town
northeast of Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said
on Monday.

"Single women and widows who would like to marry IS fighters"
are welcome there to provide their names and addresses, so that
the militants can “come knocking at their door and officially ask
for marriage," according to AFP, citing the watchdog, which
is based in Britain and relies on a network of informants on the
ground.

The IS, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria
(ISIS/ISIL), formally declared a new caliphate at the end of June
on the territories under its control in Syria and Iraq. The
extremist group, an offshoot of Al-Qaeda, is notorious for
imposing strict religious laws in areas where it has been active.

The Observatory's director, Rami Abdurrahman, told Reuters it was
the first time he had heard of the group setting up a formal
office to register potential spouses.

The report has however
not been independently verified, and there have been instances in
the past when IS stories turned out to be hoaxes.

A report by a UN
resident and humanitarian coordinator in Iraq on the Islamic
State ordering all girls and women aged 11 to 46 in the Mosul
region to undergo female genital mutilation has spurred an uproar
in the mass media earlier in July. However, later reports
suggested there was no evidence on the ground to support the
claim.

Still, the Islamic State has been harsh to women’s rights in the
areas it controls. Last week, the IS issued a statement warning
women to wear full-face veils or risk severe punishment.

“The hands and feet must be covered. Wear shapeless clothes
that don't hug the body. No perfume,” the statement reads,
according to Reuters.

The statement said the purpose of the strict guidelines on what
to wear was not a restriction of freedom, but aimed at preventing
a woman from “falling into humiliation and vulgarity or to be
a theater for the eyes of those who are looking."